League Cup-winning former Aston Villa skipper Chris Nicholl has died at the age of 77, former club Walsall have announced.
Nicholl, who later played for and then managed Southampton before taking charge of the Saddlers, had been living with dementia, which he attributed to brain damage caused by repeatedly heading balls over his lengthy career.
The former central defender’s death was confirmed in a statement on Walsall’s official X – formerly Twitter – account which said: “We are devastated to learn that former manager Chris Nicholl has passed away.
“Chris led the Saddlers from 1994 to 1997 and won promotion to Division Two in what was a memorable 1994-95 campaign.
“Our thoughts are with his family & friends at this incredibly sad time.”
Wilmslow-born Nicholl, who was capped 51 times by Northern Ireland and represented them at the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain, began his career at Burnley, but made more than 200 appearances for both Villa and the Saints.
A dependable defender, he famously scored with a 40-yard piledriver as Villa lifted the 1977 League Cup with a 3-2 second replay victory over Everton which went to extra time at Old Trafford.
Nicholl moved into management at the Dell when he was appointed as Lawrie McMenemy’s replacement during the summer of 1985, and it was he who promoted the emerging talents of Alan Shearer, Matt Le Tissier and Rod Wallace to the first team.
Sacked in May 1991, he spent three years out of the game before being appointed by Walsall, and he later had a spell as assistant manager with Northern Ireland during McMenemy’s reign.
A statement on the Irish FA’s X account said: “We are saddened to learn of the passing of Chris Nicholl. He played 51 times for us, including the 1982 World Cup in Spain.
“Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time”
In 2017, Nicholl told Shearer as part of a BBC documentary of his fears over the damage he had suffered during his playing career.
He said: “I am brain-damaged from heading footballs. My memory is in trouble.
“Everyone forgets regular things, where your keys are. But when you forget where you live, that’s different.
“I’ve had that for the last four or five years, it is definitely getting worse. It bothers me.”
'I have nothing against him' - Leao brushes off rumours of feud with Fonseca
Rafael Leao has shrugged off suggestions of a feud between him and Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca despite starting fewer games in recent weeks.
The winger started three consecutive Serie A matches on the bench after the last international break, coming on to make substitute appearances in two of those.
He returned to the starting line-up for their 3-3 draw with Cagliari last time out, netting twice in the first half to bring his tally up to three goals for the season, and 50 overall in Serie A.
Leao has also provided three assists in the Italian top-flight, while he has both attempted (36) and completed (24) the most dribbles of any Milan player in the competition.
There were reports of tension between Leao and Fonseca due to the former's lack of playing time in recent weeks, but he brushed off the idea.
"These things happen during the season, I have nothing against him, and he has nothing against me," Leao said while at Portugal's training ground.
"It's all settled. I don't like being on the bench, obviously, but he makes the decisions and I, as a player, have to respect the coach.
"When I step onto the pitch, I have to do my best to help the team."
Leao has also impressed with performances in the Champions League this season, especially against Real Madrid in a 3-1 win, as he registered an assist for their third goal.
However, he has also come under criticism in Italy, with one pundit claiming he has a poor work ethic, suggesting he only puts in effort in big games.
"Clearly, I do not agree with that," Leao added about the recent comments.
"I have been having a great season at Milan but, like everyone else, there are ups and downs. The campaign has only just started. Look, I know that I am not the perfect player and sometimes I can do much better.
"I am not shaken by this criticism. I have people who help me to improve and those are the ones I have to listen to. This criticism just spurs me on to respond on the pitch."
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
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